Machine for feeding off newspapers, &amp;c.



No. 768,930. PATENTED AUG. 30, 1904. P. O. BROSTROM.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING OFF NEWSPAPERS, &0.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1902.

N0 MODEL. 4 SHEETSSHEET 1.

E I Wdivwasas No. 168,930. PATENTED AUG. 30, 1904.

P. O. BROSTROM. V MACHINE FOR FEEDING OFF NEWSPAPERS, &0.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1902. I

no MODEL 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No. 768,930. PATENTED AUG. 30, 1904.

. F. O. BROSTROM. MACHINE FOR FEEDING OFF NEWSPAPERS, &o. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1902. no MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET a.

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F. 0. BROSTROM.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING OFF NEWSPAPERS, &o.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4-.

N0 MODEL.

A s Y UNITED STATES Patented August 30, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK OSKAR BROSTROM, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE L. RICHARDS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING OFF NEWSPAPERS, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 768,930, dated August 30, 1904.

Application filed September 12, 1902. Serial No. 123,137. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK OSKAR BROSTROM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Feeding Off Newspapers, &c., of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for feeding off newspapers, magazines, &c., from piles, and refers particularly to improvements in that class of feeding-off machines which is described in Letters Patent to Lee A. Agnew, No. 67 3,892, dated May 14:, 1901.

The object of the invention is to simplify the construction and operation of machines of this nature. I

Another object of the invention is to so construct afeeding-off machine of this nature that an adjustable yielding tension or pressure device is provided for the feeding-E arms.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the description of the machine and its process of operation.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the feeding-off arm or arms and the combination therewith of the tensionguide.

The invention also consists in the feedingoff arm or arms and in themanner of mounting and driving the same.

The invention also consists in the means for guiding the feeding-arm on its return movement.

The invention also consists in such other novel features of construction and combination of parts as shall hereinafter be more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a machine of the character described and illustrated in the above-mentioned patent, showing the improved feeding mechanism combined therewith. Fig. 2 represents a similar view, on an enlarged scale, of the feeding mechanism. Fig.

3 represents a plan view of one of the feeding devices and the parts most directly associated therewith. Fig. lrepresents aplan view, partially in section, illustrating a modified construction of the device.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout.

In the drawings the improved feeding-machine is shown in relation to the mechanism of a newspaper-folding machine merely to indicate one of the uses to which this feeding device may be applied; butthe mechanism for operating on the newspaper or other article after the same is fed forms no part of the present invention.

As shown in the drawings-5 5 indicate the framework of a machine of any usual construction adapted to act in any useful manner upon an article fed thereto by this improved feeding device. In the framework 5 5 are supported hearings in which the drive-shaft 6 is journaled, and mounted on the drive-shaft are the drive-pulleys 7 and 8 and the bevel-gear 9, while from the support 10 extends the bracket 11, in a bearing of which is journaled a shaft carrying the bevel-gear -12, meshing with the gear 11, and the sprocket-wheel 13, on which the chain 14 works. The support 10 may form part of the main machine-frame, or it may form part of an adjacent machine, such as the newspaper-elevator described in the patent referred to above.

At the upper part of the machine-frame is secured the feed-frame 15, on the lower portion of which the feeding device is supported in position for operation. The feeding device preferably comprises a pair of frames 16 16, which are secured to the lower portion of the frame in any suitable manner and are suitably braced. They have the circular ends 17 and 18 and the upper guards 19, furnished with the downwardly-curving ends 20 and with the vertically-perforated hubs 21 and 22, carrying the tubular extensions 23 and 24. On the tubular extension 23 is fixed the block 25, carrying the downwardly-curving guard 26. lVithin the tubular extensions 23 and 24: work the rods 27 and 28, the lower ends of which are preferably fixed to the tension-guide 29, while to the upper ends of such rods are secured retracting-springs, as 30,

Fig. 2, having at their upper ends the screwthreaded rods 31 and 32, working through the perforations in the take-up nuts 33 and 34, supported on the tubular extensions 23 and 24. Centrally disposed with relation to the circular ends 17 and 18 of the feed-frame are bearings 35 and 36, and between the bearings 35 35 is mounted the gear-case 37. In the bearings 35 is journaled the shaft 38, Fig. 2, furnished, preferably, at both ends with sprocket-wheels 39 39 and provided about midway of its length with the sprocket-wheel 49, working in the gear-case 37 and driven by the chain 14. In the bearings 36 36 are journaled the shafts of the sprockets 41 41, the shafts of these gears being independent and being preferably separated at their ends. On the sprockets 39 and 41 is mounted the chain 42, having pivoted thereto the feeder-arms 43 43, each of which has the end 44, having spurs or pins for engaging a newspaper or other article, the intermediately-located guide-pin 45 and the end guide-pin 46 furnished with an antifriction-sleeve. Any number of these feeding devices may be used for feeding to a single machine; but they are preferably arranged in pairs, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Motion being imparted to the sprocket 40 by means of the drive-shaft 6 and the connections and the newspaper or other articles a a being brought to a suitable position for feeding by the elevator described in the abovementioned patent or otherwise, the operation of the feeding mechanism is as follows: In the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings the end 44 has engaged an article, while the bearing of the guide-pin 46 or of its sleeve on the tension-guide 29 positively determines the inclination of the feed-arm 43 and the engagement of its end 44 with the article a. As the chain 42 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 of the drawings the article is drawn in this direction until the article (0 moves up the incline Z) and is fed to the tape 0 or other carrying mechanism. During this movement of the chain 42 the pin 46 travels over the surface of the tensionguide 29 until the pivot of the arm 43 moves around the sprocket 41, at which time the pin 46 is lifted from the guide 29 and is carried upward until said pin strikes the curved guide 20, when this pin 46 Will be maintained in position to swing the end 44 of the feeder-arn1 upward, first out of engagement with the article which it has carried forward and then to the return position shown in the upper portion of Fig. 2 of the drawings. When in the return movement of the feeder-arm chain the pivot of the feeder-arm begins to move around the circle of the sprocket 39, the end 44 of thearm drops until the pin 45 bears against the surface of the curved guide-plate 26, this guide acting to support this pin and the feeder-arm until the end 44 is correctly positioned over the article a supported therebeneath.

Attention is called to the independent adjustment of the ends of the guide 29, whereby gradually-increasing pressure may be exerted on the guide 29 when desired or by which the pressure may be so relieved that when the arm 43 is suitably proportioned the end 44 may swing upward from its engagement with the article, as a, before the feederarm moves upward with the chain 42.

In the construction shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings the feeding mechanism is supported by the arms 47 47, and the frames 16 16 are reversed, so that the feeding mechanism is located between such frames. In this construction the sprockets 39 39 are independently driven, while the feeder-arms 43 43 are connected by the braces 48 48 to stiffen them against lateral vibration or movement, the guiding projections 46 46 being connected by a bar 49, which works over a single spring-lifted guide 29, and the pins 45 being guided in any suitable manner to control the movement of the feeder-arms, as has heretofore been described.

For some purposes the construction shown in Fig. 4 will be preferred to that disclosed in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and I consider this form Fig. 4 of equal importance to the disclosure of my invention and equally included therein.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A machine for feeding newspapers, &c.,

comprising sprockets rotatably mounted, a

belt working thereon, and provided with a laterally-extending pivot, an arm pivotally mounted on the pivot and having an end designed to engage newspapers, &c., to feed the same forward, and an end adapted. to be guided, a lower guide against which the latter end of said arm works in its feedingmovement, and an upper guide adapted to engage said end of the arm at the completion of its feeding movement and to cause the swinging upward of the engaging end thereof.

2. A machine for feeding newspapers, &c., comprising sprockets rotatably mounted, a belt working on said sprockets and furnished with a laterally-extending pivot, an arm pivotally mounted on said pivot, an upper guide fixed in relationto said arm, and alower guide adjustable with relation to the upper guide.

3. A machine for feeding newspapers, &c., comprising sprockets rotatably mounted, a chain working thereon and provided with a laterally-extending pivot, an arm journaled on said pivot and havingapin located between the journaled"portion and its feeding end, and a guide adapted to engage said pin at the latter part of the return movement of the arm and to guide the final return movement of the armf 4. A machine for feeding newspapers, 850., comprising sprocket-wheels rotatably mount- IIO ed, a chain working thereon, a feeder-arm pivotally mounted on the chain, and a guide supported above the return reach of the chain and having a depending curved portion adapted to engage a portion of the arm to cause the swinging upward of the feeding end thereof.

5. A machine forfeeding newspapers, 850., comprising a shaft journaled in bearings, means for driving said shaft, sprockets on the end of the shaft, sprockets rotatably mounted at a distance from said shaft, chains working over the respective pairs of sprockets, feeding arms pivotally mounted on said chains, and means located above the sprockets and having guide portions extending downward for guiding the feeding-arms.

6. The combination with the frame 16 furnished with the guide 19 having the curved end 20, and the guide 26 supported from said guide 19, of the sprockets 39 and 41 journaled in said frame, the chain 42 working on said sprockets,and the feeder-arm 43 pivotally mounted on said chain and having the projecting pins 45, as and for the purpose described.

7. The combination with the frame 16, provided with the tubes 23 and 24, the rods 27 and 28 movable in said tubes, the springs as 30 secured to said rods and provided with take-up devices, and the guides 29 fixed to said rods, of the sprockets rotatably mounted in said frame, the chain 42 working on the sprockets, and the feeder-arm 43 pivotally mounted on the chain and having the pin 46, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK OSKAR BROSTROM.

Witnesses:

MARCUS MORTON, H. J. MILLER. 

